The Family Drama That Brought Tom Selleck Back To TV

Tom Selleck is back in a weekly series this fall in CBS’s Blue Bloods. He plays a New York City police commissioner with two cop sons and a prosecutor daughter. This is was the sort of juicy dynamic that got Selleck to return to the world where he once played Magnum P.I.

“Conflicts are interesting for me,” Selleck told the Television Critics Association at a press conference today. “You can’t be more conflicted than a police commissioner who’s got a prosecuting attorney for a daughter and two sons who are cops on the street. From a command standpoint, that’s going to be a big conflict in terms of the pressures of command, whether he’s going to give them preferential treatment or not.”

It was also a family drama in the real Selleck household. Blue Bloods shoots in New York, so Selleck will spend half the week in the city. “It’s an ensemble show. I think I’ll probably spend about half my time in New York City. I don’t mind the commute. I love my ranch and lifestyle but I like to work and I have a mortgage. It works out really well. The idea it was going to shoot in New York, while again causing a family consideration, was too good to pass up because I think in this show, you can see it in the script, it’s another character in the show.”

Selleck shares the screen with Donnie Wahlberg, Will Estes and Bridget Moynahan as the Reagan family. “Having done a lead as I did in Magnum, I was in every shot and I wasn’t complaining but it’s a tough road. Magnum was never cancelled. I kind of left it after eight years because I was tired from it, not tired of it. So it’s always been a consideration and this fit perfectly.”

Blue Bloods is coming this fall to CBS.

Photo Credits: CBS Broadcasting Inc.

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